[Gary.]

I may as well get one going, but if any breaking news, it can always be posted outside these threads. Per the Official guidelines


First post, Cubs new owner may push for Peavy.

[rams80]

Sure....might as well make the post season implosion even more spectacular. It's not like the Padres advanced with him.

BTW....how bad will San Diego be this year? Any guesses? 2003 Tigers bad?

[sizemorematters]

rams80, on Friday, January 9th, 2009 - 20:02:24, said:

Sure....might as well make the post season implosion even more spectacular. It's not like the Padres advanced with him.

BTW....how bad will San Diego be this year? Any guesses? 2003 Tigers bad?

I hope not. Let's start with playoff picks once Manny and Dunn have signed. I'm gonna start working on mine.

[TFoA]

Braves emerge as favorites to sign Kawakami from Japan (HOPEFULLY), negotiations with Lowe advance.

Well, I'm hoping that the Braves don't get played for fools ONCE AGAIN. But Kawakami seems like he'd be pretty decent. Middle-of-the order type of guy. I'd definitely welcome him here.
Kawakami on Youtube.

I really hope that this happens...
Hudson
Lowe
Vazquez
Kawakami
Jurrjens

Would (SHOULD) be a pretty nice rotation. I just hope that it all comes together. I'm tired of seeing the Braves get the runaround.

[InTheEnd88]

TFoA, on Friday, January 9th, 2009 - 23:17:41, said:

Braves emerge as favorites to sign Kawakami from Japan (HOPEFULLY), negotiations with Lowe advance.

Well, I'm hoping that the Braves don't get played for fools ONCE AGAIN. But Kawakami seems like he'd be pretty decent. Middle-of-the order type of guy. I'd definitely welcome him here.
Kawakami on Youtube.

I really hope that this happens...
Hudson
Lowe
Vazquez
Kawakami
Jurrjens

Would (SHOULD) be a pretty nice rotation. I just hope that it all comes together. I'm tired of seeing the Braves get the runaround.

Always helps to plant your teams flag in Japan!

[Drew22]

TFoA, on Saturday, January 10th, 2009 - 01:17:41, said:

Braves emerge as favorites to sign Kawakami from Japan (HOPEFULLY), negotiations with Lowe advance.

Well, I'm hoping that the Braves don't get played for fools ONCE AGAIN. But Kawakami seems like he'd be pretty decent. Middle-of-the order type of guy. I'd definitely welcome him here.
Kawakami on Youtube.

I really hope that this happens...
Hudson
Lowe
Vazquez
Kawakami
Jurrjens

Would (SHOULD) be a pretty nice rotation. I just hope that it all comes together. I'm tired of seeing the Braves get the runaround.

They got him.

[TFoA]

Nice, now we've got a solid 3rd or 4th starter. Of course it will take some time for him to adjust to the United States and our style of play, but he's definitely got the potential to be a decent, dependable starter. Should be another quality import from Japan.

I'm happy that this got done, and this helps to possibly get Lowe in here as well. Now if we can get Lowe to come here, and Glavine makes a another crack at a comeback, the rotation will be stout.

[TFoA]

Braves sign Lowe to 4 years/$60M deal.

Good job. This will be a great rotation this year...and it'll be even better when Hudson gets back. 2010's going to be interesting. Too bad 2009's probably gonna be another wash if the bullpen continues to blow games like they did last year.

[Drew22]

TFoA, on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 - 18:08:05, said:

Braves sign Lowe to 4 years/$60M deal.

Good job. This will be a great rotation this year...and it'll be even better when Hudson gets back. 2010's going to be interesting. Too bad 2009's probably gonna be another wash if the bullpen continues to blow games like they did last year.

Alright! Another bat maybe?

[Jigga]

Remember when the Braves announced they had no interest in Derek Lowe?

[TFoA]

Drew22, on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 - 21:24:23, said:

TFoA, on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 - 18:08:05, said:

Braves sign Lowe to 4 years/$60M deal.

Good job. This will be a great rotation this year...and it'll be even better when Hudson gets back. 2010's going to be interesting. Too bad 2009's probably gonna be another wash if the bullpen continues to blow games like they did last year.

Alright! Another bat maybe?

It'll have to come through trade or someone really cheap. Maybe Nady (definitely not cheap) or Swisher?

[StarrDogg]

City of Anaheim drops suit against Angels over name

Quote

Associated Press

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The city of Anaheim is dropping its legal challenges to the name of the Angels.

Mayor Curt Pringle says the City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to give up its battle to restore the team's name to the Anaheim Angels.

The city had argued that team owner Arte Moreno violated the city-owned stadium lease agreement when he changed the name to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 2005.

A California appeals court ruled against the city last month, and an Orange County Superior court jury sided with the team in 2006.

Pringle says city leaders believe the wrong court decision was made twice, but says "it's in everybody's best interest to take no further action."


Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press

[Still MIGHTY]

StarrDogg, on Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 - 10:24:30, said:

City of Anaheim drops suit against Angels over name

Quote

Associated Press

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The city of Anaheim is dropping its legal challenges to the name of the Angels.

Mayor Curt Pringle says the City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to give up its battle to restore the team's name to the Anaheim Angels.

The city had argued that team owner Arte Moreno violated the city-owned stadium lease agreement when he changed the name to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 2005.

A California appeals court ruled against the city last month, and an Orange County Superior court jury sided with the team in 2006.

Pringle says city leaders believe the wrong court decision was made twice, but says "it's in everybody's best interest to take no further action."


Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press

Yeah we were never going to win that lawsuit, because even though how terrible that sounds as a name, it was within the guidelines and stipulations of the lease to keep Anaheim in the team name. I think that Anaheim took the lawsuit just out of principal because that's what it was. It was a terrible decision by Arte and it pissed off the majority of the fanbase. Anaheim had to defend itself because the Angels are one of the things that put Anaheim on the map (along with Disneyland). Most of the fans got over it after a while. A lot still call the team Anaheim (like myself) others still call it California, there are some who abide and say Los Angeles (the national media at the forefront because its a long ass name), and there is a big group that just simply call them the Angels with no other designation.

Basically, Anaheim was never going to win and this issue has been long passed over. Thank the speediness of the civil court system

[BringBackTheVet]

So does that mean that the "of Anaheim" is dropped, or that Anaheim just agrees to shut up?

[McCall]

BringBackTheVet, on Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 - 13:17:17, said:

So does that mean that the "of Anaheim" is dropped, or that Anaheim just agrees to shut up?

Unfortunately, I believe it is simply the latter.

[LMU]

McCall, on Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 - 11:52:47, said:

BringBackTheVet, on Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 - 13:17:17, said:

So does that mean that the "of Anaheim" is dropped, or that Anaheim just agrees to shut up?

Unfortunately, I believe it is simply the latter.

It was already ruled that the "of Anaheim" addon could just be used in the official name and not necessarily required in uniforms or marketing, kind of like the New York Football Giants not using "Football."

[McCall]

LMU, on Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 - 14:11:42, said:

McCall, on Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 - 11:52:47, said:

BringBackTheVet, on Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 - 13:17:17, said:

So does that mean that the "of Anaheim" is dropped, or that Anaheim just agrees to shut up?

Unfortunately, I believe it is simply the latter.

It was already ruled that the "of Anaheim" addon could just be used in the official name and not necessarily required in uniforms or marketing, kind of like the New York Football Giants not using "Football."

They never even use "Los Angeles" in merchandising anyway. In all my catalogs from vendors who do MLB and MiLB merchandise, like t-shirt designs, they always say "Angels Baseball", even when the other teams' stuff say Location/Nickname, such as St. Louis Cardinals. In some, where it'll say "Location" above "Nickname" and somewhere towards the bottom of the design, "Baseball Club", they will leave off the location and just put "Baseball" instead of "Baseball Club".

[LMU]

McCall, on Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 - 12:17:09, said:

LMU, on Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 - 14:11:42, said:

McCall, on Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 - 11:52:47, said:

BringBackTheVet, on Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 - 13:17:17, said:

So does that mean that the "of Anaheim" is dropped, or that Anaheim just agrees to shut up?

Unfortunately, I believe it is simply the latter.

It was already ruled that the "of Anaheim" addon could just be used in the official name and not necessarily required in uniforms or marketing, kind of like the New York Football Giants not using "Football."

They never even use "Los Angeles" in merchandising anyway. In all my catalogs from vendors who do MLB and MiLB merchandise, like t-shirt designs, they always say "Angels Baseball", even when the other teams' stuff say Location/Nickname, such as St. Louis Cardinals. In some, where it'll say "Location" above "Nickname" and somewhere towards the bottom of the design, "Baseball Club", they will leave off the location and just put "Baseball" instead of "Baseball Club".

I think that's largely a branding issue. Moreno has made an effort to promote the team more as a brand than anything, which is why he removed the navy background from the primary logo. A couple years ago, the team's billboard/bus stop campaign was just to have the A on a red background.

Hopefully though, the end of the legal proceedings will allow for LA to sneak in more places than box scores and the "Los Angeles Times" ad on the right field scoreboard.

[Shumway]

Continuing with Halos news, Chone Figgins is back for another year
Link

Oh, and Bartolo Colon signed with the ChiSox again.

[willmorris]

And the baseball owners have agreed to ditch the coinflip to determine who hosts the one-game tiebreakers. I think it's by head to head now?